The present invention relates to information processing, and more specifically, to recognition and display of reading progress of a human readable list of links to human consumable content items (for example, text, images, videos, etc.). Each item on the list of links may include descriptive text, image(s), audio or video, in addition to the link. However, the following terminology should be understood: (i) “item” refers to content that accompanies the link in a list of linked items (typically, any content that is part of an “item” will be brief and/or small so that the list of “items” can be displayed in a relatively small space so that a user can quickly move through the list of items); (ii) “linked content” (or, more simply, “content” refers to the content to which an item links, which is to say that, “linked content” is not part of the item as the item is displayed on the list; (iii) an “unreviewed item” is an item on a list where it is expected that the user has not seen the item on the list, and also has not activated the link to be presented with the associated linked content; (iv) a “reviewed item” is an item which has been presented in (for example, displayed in) an items list sufficiently that the user would be expected to have seen or hear the item listing; and (v) a “read item” is an item where the user has activated the link in the item to see the linked content.
There are many social media tools (herein sometimes referred to, more simply, as “social tools”), which enrich the ways for users to get real time events or status from their friends and/or other associates. The social tool usually lists the up-to-date news or status in real time. A user typically browses the list to decide which items have potentially interesting linked content and then “clicks” (that is activates) the corresponding link(s) for details. So, there is a concept of “reading progress” for a given list of items, identifying a “reviewed sub-list” (of reviewed items and read items, sometimes more simply referred to as a “reviewed list”) and an “unreviewed list sub-list” (of unreviewed items, sometimes more simply referred to as an unreviewed list”). In one typical variation, a given list may be instead broken down into a “read sub-list” (of read items) and an unread list (of reviewed items and unreviewed items). In yet another known variation, there may three sub-lists as follows: (i) an “unreviewed sub-list” (of unreviewed items); (ii) a “reviewed-not-read” sub-list (of reviewed items); and (iii) a “read sub-list” (of read items).